AMCP Partnership Forum Seeks Strategies to Integrate New Diabetes Treatments

Alexandria, Va., July 19, 2016 — More than 30 national health care decision-makers have gathered outside of the Nation’s Capital this week for an Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) event focusing on innovations in diabetes care that are producing changes to treatment options, patient engagement, accountability and patient-provider interactions.

Participants in AMCP’s July 19-20 partnership forum, Navigating Innovations in Diabetes Care, will examine how new therapies and tools — such as those administered in a physician’s office and those delivered by mHealth solutions— are changing the delivery of care and improving patient outcomes. Participants will identify gaps in evidence for adopting new technologies and provide recommendations on clinical outcomes of importance to managed care organizations.

The forum comes amidst a growing diabetes epidemic. According to government estimates, more than 29 million Americans have diabetes and nearly 2 million adults are newly diagnosed each year. Adapting diabetes care programs so that they can integrate with new technologies and increasing amounts of data, while maintaining affordability, improving quality of care, and addressing individual patient needs, will be imperative for managed care stakeholders.

“The task before us is very timely,” said AMCP CEO Susan A. Cantrell, RPh, CAE. “A flood of innovations are coming to market with promises of improved treatment options, patient engagement, accountability and patient-provider interactions. But with innovation comes challenges: Care and quality improvement strategies will need to be coordinated across pharmacy and medical care settings, benefits, and data sets. How do we — as managed care practitioners — ensure patients have access to these new therapies and improve overall diabetes care, while remaining good stewards of our health care dollars?” 

Forum participants will develop strategies and recommendations to:  

• Optimize recent pharmaceutical innovations; 
• Integrate pharmacy and medical benefits;
• Maximize care coordination, technology and quality improvement;
• Identify gaps in the evidence that hinder decision making around novel therapies; and
• Identify outcomes, beyond HbA1c, that are of direct relevance to managed care organizations.

AMCP will use the resulting recommendations to develop educational programing and tools for Academy members, and to help facilitate the implementation of strategies that improve diabetes care. 

The event was hosted by AMCP in partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly and Company; Dexcom, Inc.; Insulet Corporation; Intarcia Therapeutics, Inc.; and Merck & Co Inc. For more information, visit www.amcp.org.